The Garden Magazine 



Vol. VI— No. 4 



Published Monthly 



NOVEMBER, 1907 



j One Dollar a Year 

 I Fifteen Cents a Co.'Y 



[For the purpose of reckoning dates, New York is 

 generally taken as a standard. Allow six days' difference 

 for every hundred miles of latitude.] 



Act Before November First 



HPHE greatest opportunity you have to 

 *- make your home attractive indoors 

 all winter and outdoors next April at a 

 minimum of expense and effort will pass by 

 November ist, for the Dutch bulbs deteriorate 

 more or less every day after that. 



Public sentiment now demands that every 

 yard shall have some flowers in it at the one 

 season when we need them most, viz. in 

 March and April before the trees leaf out. 

 You cannot consider yourself a good citizen 

 unless you have some snowdrops, crocuses 

 and scillas to cheer the passer-by. And you 

 are missing one of the sweetest pleasures of 

 life if you fail to grow your own daffodils, 

 hyacinths and tulips. The only objection 

 to them is that they are too cheap. If they 

 cost twice as much we should probably love 

 them more. True, they cost more than 

 flower seeds, but consider the greater 

 certainty of bloom! And about all you have 

 to do to them is to plant them. 



Resolve to have a winter garden this year. 

 The best house plants for the million are 

 bulbs, because they ere so splendid in flower 

 and so easy to grew. How can you have a 

 rightly ordered house without flowers every 

 day from Christmas to Easter? And why 

 not grow your Christmas gifts this year? 

 The three best bulbs for this purpose are 

 Roman hyacinths, Chinese sacred lilies and 

 the Paper White narcissus. Even if you live 

 in a flat you can grow them in sand and water, 

 with no risk of soiling rugs or curtains. 

 Think of something besides stocks and bonds 

 or the high price of putty! Don't miss some 

 of the finest feelings that can ever come to 

 man, woman or child. Grow a lot of bulbs 

 for old women in tenements whom nobody 

 loves. Or give them to people whom you 

 do love. But quit machine-giving and put 

 some personality into your gifts this year! 



Even if the flowers are not quite ready by 

 Christmas what of it? They will be full of 

 promise anyhow, and most acceptable. 



November's greatest opportunity 



You can probably save a year in the 

 development of your place by seizing the 

 present chance for fall planting. If you put 

 off planting until next spring you will regret 

 it as sure as fate for you have all you can do 

 then with planting the vegetable garden and 

 sowing flower seeds. Nearly all the import- 

 ant trees, shrubs, vines and fruits can be 

 planted to better advantage in fall than in 

 spring, because you have more time. The 

 spring rush ought to be abolished. 



It is now too late to plant evergreens and 

 perennials in the North but just as soon as the 

 leaves begin to fall you should be busily 

 planting trees, shrubs and vines, for these are 

 the permanent features of your place and 

 therefore the most important. You must 

 not plant roses and peaches, however, and 

 you should consult the October Garden 

 Magazine for other exceptions. 



The Southerner has a far greater opportu- 

 nity for he may plant everything mentioned 

 above. The Southern planting season 

 reaches its climax in January but there are 

 overwhelming reasons why as much as 

 possible should be done in November. La- 

 bor is everywhere cheaper and easier to get 

 in the fall and there is time to do a better job. 



THE FOUR NEXT BIGGEST THINGS 



Plow your vegetable garden and leave the 

 land rough all winter. This will kill a lot of 

 insects and the frost will improve the texture 

 of the soil. Before plowing burn all the 

 weed seeds and refuse. 



Save all the autumn leaves. Don't burn 

 one. Make a compost heap. Next year it 

 will be worth many dollars for improving the 

 soil in bulb and flower beds. 



Mulch everything — or at least the bulb 

 beds, strawberry patch, newly planted trees 

 and rhododendrons. Wait till the surface 

 of the ground has frozen enough to send 

 field mice to their winter quarters or they will 

 nest in the mulching material and do a lot 

 of damage. 



Don't forget that lilies are best planted in 

 the fall and that the Japanese bulbs do not 

 reach here until November or later. There- 

 fore heap fresh manure a foot deep over the 

 proposed lily bed and you can have unfrozen 

 soil even in December in which to plant 

 the bulbs. 



MAKE TWO FAMILIES HAPPY 



Renew your subscription to Garden 

 Magazine — Farming and give another sub- 

 scription to a friend. Have your back 



numbers bound. Ycu should have five 

 volumes now. Do you know a better work- 

 ing library that you could have for all gar- 

 dening operations and emergencies? You 

 are entitled to an index. To show the value 

 of back numbers consult the Gardener's 

 Reminder for November 1905 and 1906, 

 where you will find about forty brief but 

 valuable suggestions. 



FARM OPPORTUNITIES 



It will not pay to winter surplus cockerels 

 and hens that are more than three years old. 

 Select strong vigorous cockerels to head next 

 years' breeding pens first and ship the rest 

 to market and replace the old hens with 

 pullets. 



It is a good plan to sow rye in the chicken 

 yard to furnish some green food as soon as 

 the snow goes in the spring. 



Last call to gather the supply of green 

 stuff for winter — beets, turnips, cabbages. 

 All the farm tools should be under shelter, 

 scoured up, and covered with grease to pre- 

 vent rusting and get the winter's supply of 

 wood in the woodshed too . Then you may go 

 shooting with a clear conscience. 



If you have set out any fruit trees this fall 

 be sure to protect them from the possible 

 injury of rabbits and field mice when the 

 snow comes. Two things are important, 

 to clean away all the dry grass and rubbish 

 from the trees and to wrap them with tar 

 paper or even several thicknesses of wrapping 

 paper as high as the branches. 



If there is any ditching to do, cellars or 

 foundations to dig, or fence posts to set, do 

 it before the frost makes digging impossible. 



There is no mystery to winter eggs and no 

 medicines or drugs that will overcome the 

 natural tendency of chickens to stop laving 

 during the cold weather. If you will study 

 the methods of your neighbors who get 

 " eggs all winter " you will find that their coops 

 are dry, that they have glass fronts facing 

 the south, that their stock is fed in litter so that 

 they must scratch for what the}' get, which 

 prevents fat formation, and that they get 

 warm food and warm water at least once 

 a day, and that green food, ground bone, and 

 meal are a part of their rations. Make the 

 chickens forget that it is winter and they will 

 also forget to stop laying. 



Get the corn fodder under shelter before 

 the snow flies. Wet frozen fodder hasn't 

 a single virtue that can recommend it either 

 to cows or men. 



The time to trim a tree is "when the axe 

 is sharp " says the old proverb, but the best 

 time is when the sap is down and you have 

 plenty of time to do the job carefully without 

 thinking constantly of some other important 

 thing that you should be doing. 



